Accessbilty News

You might ask what design, disabilities, history and holiness could have in common? Ordinarily, not much, but a holy cry of triumph went up in the Holy Land last spring, when the prestigious Domus Academy architectural design awards included a surprise recipient that brought them all together.

Dr. Avi Ramot: "There is an accessibility advisor for the company and an accessibility advisor for the government. My job is more of supervising the company. Regarding the accessibility solutions you asked about: for people with special needs, the light rail's entry and exit have no steps, so you don't go up or down, but simply enter or exit the tram. There is room for wheelchairs, enough room inside for wheelchairs to turn around and also room for people with physical disabilities who do not use a wheelchair.

After the SHEKEL accessibility center staff led the Ministry of Transportation in preparing the master plan to make public transportation in Israel accessible by 2014, SHEKEL continues to help update the 2003 regulations on accessible transportation in the hope of submitting the updated regulations to the Knesset for approval soon

The SHEKEL staff began working with the Municipality of Modi'in to draw up a master plan for accessibility. To date, dozens of kilometers of roads, bus stations, 180 crossroads have been examined, etc.

Under contract from the Jerusalem Development Authority, the SHEKEL Accessibility Center has published a master plan for making Jerusalem's Old City accessible in 3 languages, Hebrew, English and Arabic. this is the first publication of its kind in the world, since till now there hasn't been a serious, comprehensive approach to dealing with accessbility on old cities around the world.

It shouldn't be assumed that all Russian immigrants to Israel understand Hebrew. It's already been said that it's hard to learn Hebrew, particularly for Russian speakers who are hearing impaired. it's a new language, often with unfamiliar words and concepts, and they have trouble filling in the gaps, like other hearing-impaired people speaking their mother tongue can do. Conversation and comprehension become complicated and frustrating.
In SHEKEL's Hearing Center for Haifa and the north, a Russian-speaking support group of several dozen hearing-impaired people meets regularly. Mrs. Helen Katzman, volunteer group leader, is also an instructor in hearing accessibility at the center. The group hears lectures with the aid of a transcriber who types the words on a computer hooked up to a screen enabling the participants to read the words as soon as they are spoken.
In addition we provide an amplification system for use by the hearing impaired.